Pure Camp - Tra Battle

Dean Legge

08/10/2006

ATHENS – Senior safety Tra Battle has seen his fair share of craziness during his fall camps at Georgia. Dean Legge talks with him in a Dawg Post feature called Pure Camp, which describes the subtleties of being a Bulldog during the heat of August practices.

Who is the most irritable player you've seen in your time during fall camp?

Umm… I am going to have to say… I don't know. The atmosphere at Georgia is that we love fall camp. We love to go out there every day.

Was there a guy with a nasty streak during fall camp?

David Pollack was pretty mean (smiling). I guess that's his competitive nature. His competitive nature was insatiable. He wanted to hurt whoever was in front of him every snap. He was determined to win every snap, and that's something that's unheard of. I don't know a player that has ever won every snap. That's the way Pollack was – he wanted to win every snap; he wanted to embarrass whoever was in front of him.

He used to drink those jugs of water around here. Is there another guy from the past that did quirky things like that?

All of those defensive ends are strange. Quentin Moses is kind of strange – Pollack had more of the attitude, but Quentin has a little smart mouth. Will Thompson – he was in another time zone. Will was the strangest. He had that… I don't know… it was not even retro… that hairdo – it was not even an Afro. That patch of hair on his head – he was kind of strange.

Is there a memorable moment from the past, maybe good or bad, that you remember?

The most memorable thing for me was when Will Thompson dislocated his ankle. That was the first major injury I had ever seen – it was live. It was pretty disgusting. His ankle was hanging. It was Prothro-severity.

Do you ever remember heat like this?

No! Just this year it seems! Why is it so hot? A couple of day ago I went inside our academic building and told the receptionist to call campus police that I wanted to report a crime – I told her that the sun had just molested me.